If I wanted pity, I got it because I'm illegitimate. And when I didn't want it I was mean and nasty.

All the men in my life have been two things: an epic and an epidemic.

The white audiences thought I was white, my features being what they are, and at every performance I'd have to take off my gloves to prove I was a spade.

I had always loved John Ford's pictures. And I came to love him, too, but I was frightened to death working for him. He used the shock treatment while directing me.

Mom was the greatest influence of my childhood. She wanted to save me from the vice, lust, and drinking that was all about me.

After years in white theaters I dreaded working in colored houses. The noise, the stomping, whistling, and cheering that hadn't annoyed me when I was young was now something I dreaded.

I've never been able to feel that there is anything undignified about making your living by the sweat of your brow.